"Salt Village - Kingscliff has a Makeover" Kingscliff by lachydragon

It really is an amazing story. 5 Years ago, Kingscliff was a sleepy Far-Noth Coast NSW town 15 Minutes North to Coolangatta (and the Queensland Border) and 30 Minutes South to Byron Bay. Looking at the place today it is almost unrecognisable. Little has changed in the town itself, Kingscliff is still a normal NSW Coastal Town - it has main street, the pick of the land is owned by the local council caravan park, kids play and anglers fish along the quiet banks of the river inlet and Dad and the mates go for a surf out at the beach itself.

But head a few minutes South and it is a completely different story. A long stretch of land back behind the beach sand dunes has been converted into a swish, slick, marketed "lifestyle" development. Salt Village is the result - a combination of house and land packages, a complete village with shops, parklands, bike paths and even its own Surf Lifesaving Club , along with two International Hotels...unlike anything the NSW coast has seen before.

I have to say, as far as development goes (partiularly coastal development) Salt has done quite well. There is none of the Gold Coast style multi-storey tower block horrors, but spread-out and low-rise development under 4 stories that is almost invisible from down on the beach. It is a very interesting concept and it will definitely worth watching in the next few years to see how it develops and ages as the years go on.

Outrigger on the beach was the first of the big hotel developments to open at Salt. It is run by the Hawaiian Chain of resorts and features all the facilities that you would expect from such a resort. It is a resort consisting of hotel rooms, one and two bedroom apartments which has been designed to maximise rooms with ocean views (the website clims that 70% of all rooms have ocean views).

We stayed for three nights on our way up the coast as we headed to Rockhampton and Greak Keppel Island. It was fantastic to stay in such a new resort and we had perfect weather for our stay. This VT page will focus mostly on the Outrigger Resort, as we didn't have that much time to really explore the township of Kingscliff itself and didn't stay in any of the other accommodation in the Salt Village.

• Pros:Stay in a brand new hotel, enjoy a lazy afternoon by the beach or pool
• Cons:Lacks character?...is it really coastal NSW or just a developer's dream?